HC Deb 27 July 1950 vol 478 cc681-2
39. Mr. L. M. Lever

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what facilities are provided to enable sentenced women to give birth to their children outside the precincts of prison; and if in all such cases he will take steps to ensure that the confinement takes place out of the prison and so avoid the stigmatising of the child.

Mr. Ede

Any woman prisoner who wishes to have her confinement outside prison is, wherever suitable arrangements can be made for her reception, removed to a hospital or maternity home. It is not possible to take steps to see that no children are born in prison because there are cases where expectant mothers do not wish to be transferred to a hospital or maternity home outside, and it may not always be possible in the present overcrowded state of the hospitals to find suitable accommodation in every case. There may also be cases in which the condition of the woman's health precludes removal from prison.

Mr. Lever

Will my right hon. Friend ensure that these facilities are open to every such woman just before her confinement in prison?

Mr. Ede

We do the best we can to make these facilities known, but there are certain cases, such as those which I have detailed in my answer, where it is not possible to bring about the result we would desire.

Sir H. Williams

Does the birth certificate state the place of birth, or only the parish of birth?

Mr. Ede

It states the place of birth, but an arrangement has been made whereby it is not recorded as a prison but as a certain number in the street in which the prison is situated.